As fluid storage tanks are filled, mobility becomes difficult by human force alone as weight increases. In times of emergencies, such as after natural disasters, a small scale, mobile, dedicated, and rapidly fillable source of potable water is often required. Storage tanks having sufficient capacity allowing users to prepare an emergency water supply may be too heavy to easily move from a water source to shelter. FEMA suggests that a family of four requires one liter of water per person, per day, to comfortably survive for two weeks. The volume of such a tank sufficient to hold this amount of water, roughly 56 liters, can be heavy and difficult to keep sanitary. Filling a tank with such a substantial amount of water can be time consuming. In some cases, water sources available to citizens that can fill a storage tank are limited to a faucet or spigot. Filling tanks from such sources may be time consuming. Filling tanks from such sources may also limit the size of the storage means capable of receiving water from such as source, for example a bucket. In emergency situations, however, time may be limited.
What is needed is a readily available apparatus for storing an emergency supply of potable water extracted from a common household faucet or spigot. What is also needed is for such an apparatus to be fillable in a relatively short period of time.
In situations commonly requiring emergency water provisions, such as before a bad weather event, citizens often buy large stores of bottled water in anticipation. This can be expensive, and may distract from other needs when preparing for an impending emergency.
What is needed is a storage means mitigating the substantial time, money and storage space required to procure and store flats of water that are purchased in anticipation of disasters and water interruption.
Storage means known in the art, such as bathtub water bladders and large water tanks, are susceptible to waste, spillage and mess. Known storage means for storing emergency water supplies are often located at a great distance from where the majority of water is consumed for drinking and cooking, such as the kitchen or dining room. In known storage tools, repeated instances of mobilizing the water from storage areas to consumption areas often invites spillage and/or contamination.
In emergency situations, high-rise apartment homes that lose power can also lose electricity-driven water pressure. For residents of high-rise apartment homes, particularly those who live on higher-floors, it may be impracticable to move the requisite amount of water quickly, safely, and without contaminating the water supply.
For residents of suburban and rural communities, when natural disasters strike local water supplies can be temporarily unavailable or contaminated. Often alternative water sources are not possible due to road closures, floods, snow, distances, and/or debris.
In some cases, it may even be useful for municipalities and other government agencies to distribute storage tanks to its citizens following natural disasters. Such large-scale water distribution may reduce the amount of time lost to provide potable water rations and reduce that amount of water spilled by distributing water in small, makeshift water receptacles. Municipalities and other government agencies may distribute the present invention to groups of citizens to provide temporary and safe supplies of water to their citizens.
What is needed is a means for providing an emergency potable water supply that is easily movable. What is needed is a collapsible and/or storable apparatus for transporting, storing, and dispensing water. What is needed a storable apparatus that is readily assembled and filled with potable water before, during, and/or after natural disasters or other emergency scenarios. What is needed is a water storage apparatus providing large scale liquid storage that can be easily moved, in a compact, stable format, from the filling source to other areas despite the large weight of an apparatus that is filled with potable water.